Among the things discussed in class, I suggested that Jesus’ recommendations to his disciples in Luke 9.3, repeated with serious differences in Luke 10, extend rules of behavior which applied strictly to the temple in Jerusalem: He said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic.[….]’ Here is what Mishnah Berakhoth (“Blessings”) 9.5 says:

One should not enter the Temple mount with his walking stick, his shoes, his money-bag, or with dust on his feet. And one should not use [it] for a shortcut. And spitting a fortiori. [….] And they ordained that an individual should greet his fellow with [God’s] name.

Even though the tradition has been significantly changed in the Lucan text, the parallel is still valid. An additional argument is the business about dusting one’s feet as a testimony (Lk 9.5). The meaning then would be that Jesus is sending his disciples in the whole territory or world as if it was the sacred precinct of the Jerusalem temple. This would be similar to what Pharisees of his time are understood to have been doing, at least by Jacob Neusner et alii, namely extending the system of priestly purity rules obtaining at the temple to some of the “profane” times and places: the meals. Jesus is re-interpreting the dynamics of sacredness and commonality (profaneness) and extending sacred space and time to the whole land. Divine protection and care, which was normally mediated by the Temple in Jerusalem, could from now on be mediated by people anytime, anywhere.

An indication of this expansion is the story of the hemorrhaging woman who touched the fringe of his clothes (Lk 8.44). The word used, κρασπεδόν, denotes the special fringes made of a very minimal special mixture of animal and vegetal fibers (linen and wool) which were forbidden in normal life (in profane or common life). They were a reminder of a sophisticated embroidery demanded only at the temple, which consisted of the systematic mixing of not only fibers but also metallic threads (gold and silver) and precious stones (at least on the high-priest, and on the veil, or parokhet)—a sort of super-recomposition of the cosmos, as Josephus intimates—. The touching by the woman, to my mind, reminds one of the normal structure of ancient healing stories (touching spirit-loaded statues, trees, objects, people, etc.), yes, but also reminds one of the temple. Here the temple as source of healing has become highly mobile and flexible.